Correct Cycling Nutrition

Nutrition and recovery

If you want to perform your absolute best and maintain the achieved level, then you cannot avoid looking at your diet. The body in many ways works like an engine, which needs gas to run.

If you ask any successful bike rider about how this person has achieved their goals, it will seldom be the word “recovery” you will hear.

Recovery is one of the most fundamental rules in achieving a stable development. Any experienced racing cyclist knows the value and significance of getting enough rest, sleep and other impulses in the brain, so your muscles and thoughts are recharged for the next tough training pass.

The muscles already begin to show signs of tiredness following a couple of hours of training. They show signs of tiredness if the glycogen reserves are not replaced with new ones. This is e.g. done during training with the help of rich carbohydrate drinks, energy bars etc. Every training day above Zone 1 requires recovery.

Be aware that you can have positive and negative tiredness in your muscles. If you have positive tiredness following a training day, it just indicates that the muscles have been working and are rebuilding. You can help the muscle rebuild by eating and drinking the right things in the correct amounts.

But negative tiredness also exists, which typically shows itself after several days/weeks of tough training, where the muscles have not had sufficient rest following tough training days and consequently not enough time to rebuild. This is called over training.